The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both?
Aggregate indexes of the quality of governance, covering large samples of countries, are widely used in research and in aid policy. Few studies examine the validity of these indexes, however. This paper partially fills this gap by examining empiric...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/07/9670849/worldwide-governance-indicators-tautology-causally-related-separable-concepts-indicators-common-cause-or-both http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6839 |
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okr-10986-68392021-04-23T14:02:32Z The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both? Langbein, Laura Knack, Stephen ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTING AGGREGATE INDEXES AGGREGATING GOVERNANCE INDICATORS AUTOCORRELATION BRIBES BUREAUCRACY BUSINESS MANAGERS CITIZENS CIVIL LIBERTIES COMPETITION POLICY CONTROLLING CORRUPTION CORRELATIONS CORRUPT CORRUPTION CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX COUNTRY DATA CRIME CRONY DEMOCRACY DISCRETION DOMAIN ECONOMIC GROWTH ENTRY EQUATIONS EXTRACTING FACTOR ANALYSIS GOOD GOVERNANCE GOODNESS OF FIT GOVERNANCE INDICATOR GOVERNANCE RATINGS GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVENESS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE HETEROSCEDASTICITY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RIGHTS HYPOTHESES INCOME INDEPENDENT VARIABLES INDICES INEQUALITY INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY INVESTIGATION LAWS LOGIC MATRIX MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION MEASUREMENT ERRORS MEDIA NATIONS PERCEPTIONS INDEX POLITICAL ANALYSIS POLITICAL CORRUPTION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INFLUENCE POLITICAL INSTABILITY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL OFFICIALS POLITICAL PARTIES POLITICAL RIGHTS POLITICAL STABILITY POLITICAL SURVIVAL POLITICIANS PRIVATE GAIN PROBABILITY PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PUBLIC AFFAIRS PUBLIC INFORMATION PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PUBLIC OFFICIALS PUBLIC RESOURCES PUBLIC SERVICES READING REGULATORY QUALITY RELIABILITY RESEARCHERS RULE OF LAW SOCIAL CAPITAL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS SOCIAL SCIENCE STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA TAX ADMINISTRATION TAX POLICY TERRORISM TRANSPARENCY UNOFFICIAL ECONOMY VALIDITY VIOLENCE WEB WORLDWIDE GOVERNANCE INDICATORS Aggregate indexes of the quality of governance, covering large samples of countries, are widely used in research and in aid policy. Few studies examine the validity of these indexes, however. This paper partially fills this gap by examining empirically the dimensionality of the Worldwide Governance Indicators. The six indexes purportedly measure distinct concepts of control of corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness, regulatory quality, political stability, and voice and accountability. Using standard statistical techniques for testing measurement validity, the analysis concludes that the six indexes do not discriminate usefully among different aspects of governance. Rather, each of the indexes merely reflects perceptions of the quality of governance more broadly. An implication of the findings is that the Worldwide Governance Indicator indexes are frequently misused in research and policy applications, where it is commonly assumed that the indexes provide distinct measures of different aspects of the quality of governance. A further implication is that Transparency International's even more widely-known aggregate index similarly reflects perceptions not only of corruption, as intended, but of the quality of governance more broadly. 2012-06-01T14:34:23Z 2012-06-01T14:34:23Z 2008-07 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/07/9670849/worldwide-governance-indicators-tautology-causally-related-separable-concepts-indicators-common-cause-or-both http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6839 English Policy Research Working Paper No. 4669 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTING AGGREGATE INDEXES AGGREGATING GOVERNANCE INDICATORS AUTOCORRELATION BRIBES BUREAUCRACY BUSINESS MANAGERS CITIZENS CIVIL LIBERTIES COMPETITION POLICY CONTROLLING CORRUPTION CORRELATIONS CORRUPT CORRUPTION CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX COUNTRY DATA CRIME CRONY DEMOCRACY DISCRETION DOMAIN ECONOMIC GROWTH ENTRY EQUATIONS EXTRACTING FACTOR ANALYSIS GOOD GOVERNANCE GOODNESS OF FIT GOVERNANCE INDICATOR GOVERNANCE RATINGS GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVENESS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE HETEROSCEDASTICITY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RIGHTS HYPOTHESES INCOME INDEPENDENT VARIABLES INDICES INEQUALITY INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY INVESTIGATION LAWS LOGIC MATRIX MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION MEASUREMENT ERRORS MEDIA NATIONS PERCEPTIONS INDEX POLITICAL ANALYSIS POLITICAL CORRUPTION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INFLUENCE POLITICAL INSTABILITY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL OFFICIALS POLITICAL PARTIES POLITICAL RIGHTS POLITICAL STABILITY POLITICAL SURVIVAL POLITICIANS PRIVATE GAIN PROBABILITY PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PUBLIC AFFAIRS PUBLIC INFORMATION PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PUBLIC OFFICIALS PUBLIC RESOURCES PUBLIC SERVICES READING REGULATORY QUALITY RELIABILITY RESEARCHERS RULE OF LAW SOCIAL CAPITAL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS SOCIAL SCIENCE STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA TAX ADMINISTRATION TAX POLICY TERRORISM TRANSPARENCY UNOFFICIAL ECONOMY VALIDITY VIOLENCE WEB WORLDWIDE GOVERNANCE INDICATORS |
| spellingShingle |
ACCOUNTABILITY ACCOUNTING AGGREGATE INDEXES AGGREGATING GOVERNANCE INDICATORS AUTOCORRELATION BRIBES BUREAUCRACY BUSINESS MANAGERS CITIZENS CIVIL LIBERTIES COMPETITION POLICY CONTROLLING CORRUPTION CORRELATIONS CORRUPT CORRUPTION CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS CORRUPTION PERCEPTIONS INDEX COUNTRY DATA CRIME CRONY DEMOCRACY DISCRETION DOMAIN ECONOMIC GROWTH ENTRY EQUATIONS EXTRACTING FACTOR ANALYSIS GOOD GOVERNANCE GOODNESS OF FIT GOVERNANCE INDICATOR GOVERNANCE RATINGS GOVERNMENT EFFECTIVENESS GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS GOVERNMENT PERFORMANCE HETEROSCEDASTICITY HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HUMAN RIGHTS HYPOTHESES INCOME INDEPENDENT VARIABLES INDICES INEQUALITY INSTITUTIONAL QUALITY INVESTIGATION LAWS LOGIC MATRIX MAXIMUM LIKELIHOOD ESTIMATION MEASUREMENT ERRORS MEDIA NATIONS PERCEPTIONS INDEX POLITICAL ANALYSIS POLITICAL CORRUPTION POLITICAL ECONOMY POLITICAL INFLUENCE POLITICAL INSTABILITY POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS POLITICAL OFFICIALS POLITICAL PARTIES POLITICAL RIGHTS POLITICAL STABILITY POLITICAL SURVIVAL POLITICIANS PRIVATE GAIN PROBABILITY PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION PUBLIC AFFAIRS PUBLIC INFORMATION PUBLIC MANAGEMENT PUBLIC OFFICIALS PUBLIC RESOURCES PUBLIC SERVICES READING REGULATORY QUALITY RELIABILITY RESEARCHERS RULE OF LAW SOCIAL CAPITAL SOCIAL INTERACTIONS SOCIAL SCIENCE STATISTICAL TECHNIQUES SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA TAX ADMINISTRATION TAX POLICY TERRORISM TRANSPARENCY UNOFFICIAL ECONOMY VALIDITY VIOLENCE WEB WORLDWIDE GOVERNANCE INDICATORS Langbein, Laura Knack, Stephen The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both? |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper No. 4669 |
| description |
Aggregate indexes of the quality of
governance, covering large samples of countries, are widely
used in research and in aid policy. Few studies examine the
validity of these indexes, however. This paper partially
fills this gap by examining empirically the dimensionality
of the Worldwide Governance Indicators. The six indexes
purportedly measure distinct concepts of control of
corruption, rule of law, government effectiveness,
regulatory quality, political stability, and voice and
accountability. Using standard statistical techniques for
testing measurement validity, the analysis concludes that
the six indexes do not discriminate usefully among different
aspects of governance. Rather, each of the indexes merely
reflects perceptions of the quality of governance more
broadly. An implication of the findings is that the
Worldwide Governance Indicator indexes are frequently
misused in research and policy applications, where it is
commonly assumed that the indexes provide distinct measures
of different aspects of the quality of governance. A
further implication is that Transparency
International's even more widely-known aggregate index
similarly reflects perceptions not only of corruption, as
intended, but of the quality of governance more broadly. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
Langbein, Laura Knack, Stephen |
| author_facet |
Langbein, Laura Knack, Stephen |
| author_sort |
Langbein, Laura |
| title |
The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both? |
| title_short |
The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both? |
| title_full |
The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both? |
| title_fullStr |
The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
The Worldwide Governance Indicators and Tautology : Causally Related Separable Concepts, Indicators of a Common Cause, or Both? |
| title_sort |
worldwide governance indicators and tautology : causally related separable concepts, indicators of a common cause, or both? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2008/07/9670849/worldwide-governance-indicators-tautology-causally-related-separable-concepts-indicators-common-cause-or-both http://hdl.handle.net/10986/6839 |
| _version_ |
1764400951353933824 |